Rebuilding bridges
by Breagem Berjik
Summary: AU. What if the beta testers and the normal players where driven ppart on purpose? Can Kirito sway the public opinion on the beta testers? Written from the POV of Kirito so he will be slightly OOC.


**AN: This is my very first fanfic so reviews are very welcome. Also, please remember that English is not my native language so my grammar will probably suck quite a lot (just warning you ;-) ). This story is written from the POV of kirito so he will probably be slightly OOC. Again please let me know if I am any good and what improvements I could make. Enough with all begging for help. Let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters(which is probably for the best).**

_Spoken words_

"written text"

**Chapter 1: The final event**

It was complete chaos… Sword skills where flying around everywhere you looked. Both monsters and players bursting into polygons by the dozens. Suddenly I spotted my target, a fiend with the head of a bull wearing a thick armour that looked like it was made of obsidian. Even worse was the fact that the creature was smashing around with a Warhammer as if it weighed next to nothing. Even though it was already surrounded by five high-levelled, I immediately tried to get close to it with all the speed I could muster. The bull-like creature activated a skill and immediately four of the five players disappeared in a cloud of blue polygons. The fifth one only got away with some of his hp left because I managed to barely bash him out of the way. _It's no use!_ He shouted at me when I turned let myself fall into a fighting stance across the beast. _This monster is way stronger than it has any right to be_. _Back me up or back out_ I simply answered. _It's all the same to me_. I turned back around without even looking what the other player would do. The creature still hadn't done anything to harm me. While in normal MMO's this could be seen as an advantage, it makes me slightly worried about this "event boss". SAO is no normal MMO after all and I have no doubt that it will choose a fighting style that counters mine as soon as I show any of it. As I took a closer look at it I noticed the health bars slightly left to his head. It still had five of his six bars left! This was going to be one hell of a long fight. I resigned myself with my fate as I unsheathed my blade and went for him. I feigned right but went left. The moment I came into his reach he suddenly increased the speed of his hammer even more. Retreating it from his right side and smashing his hammer down on me even faster than I had anticipated. Even with my reflexes, which has saved my skin in various occasion, he still managed to graze me. All I could do was a quick slash across his belly before I had to jump back out of his reach to avoid being pierced by one of his horns. His belly was sadly well protected by that stupid armour of his, so my slash had no noticeable effect. I was shocked however when I noticed that my own health bar had dropped below half! Of course I still had a couple of health potions for emergencies, but I wouldn't be able to keep up if things stayed like they were right now. The fiend didn't try to rush me. Why should he? All he had to do was wait until I was within his reach again so he could finish the job. Well, if he was already learning from the short clash we just had, than so should I! I started to carefully circle around the beast making sure not to get inside his reach while trying to find a weak spot. Decapitating him to try to end the fight quickly was impossible since he was wearing a collar around his neck. It was also impossible to just simply stab the beast in the face since his head was a weapon itself. The only major weakness I could find in his armour was its backside, which was mainly unprotected. If I could just put my blade in there… It would leave him completely defenceless! The main problem with this tactic was of course that it would mean that I would have to be inside his reach long enough to get to his backside. One misstep, one mistake and I would be gone. The plan was madness, my chances of survival close to suicide. I had to act fast though. With each passing minute the creature would learn more of me from my movement and with every little detail he would learn of me, my chances would shrink. I quickly made up my mind and dashed to his right assuming he would think it was another feint which would hopefully buy me a few precious moments. The fiend seemed to expect this though and he immediately activated the same skill he had used on those other four players as he swung his hammer at me. I could only admirer the mind who had managed to create a program that could predict a mad plan like mine just from my movement, before I braced myself for the inevitable blow that would end this fight. Only the blow never came… When I looked at the beast I noticed that his skill had been interrupted and that he was stunned. The fifth player had been watching the fight the whole time, waiting for the right moment to help. I quickly passed the creature, jumped up high and rammed my sword into his back. Later people would tell me it took me about minutes to slay this boss, but to me it felt more like five hours. Desperately trying to hold on to my blade releasing sword skill after sword skill while the fiend was trying to get me of his back. Apparently his presence had made the other monsters stronger because when he died the fighting all around me started to slowly die down. When even the last mobs where slain, we all teleported back to the town of beginning where there was a big message written in the sky: "Congratulations on completing the Beta test!". _Welcome my Beta testers. You have done well in completing my final test of sword art online. _Kayaba's voice was coming from everywhere but I was used to it by then. The first time Kayaba had used this system for announcements was on the openings ceremony of the beta and had been quite unnerving. _While this was the last day of the Beta, I will not let you leave with empty hands. In front of you you will see a account creation screen where you can already give your character name and password for the real game so that I can reserve it for you. All reserved account will start the game with slightly better starters gear and an 200% experience boost for the first two months. _The screen appeared in front of me but I just stared at it. A frown appeared on my face as I thought about this opportunity. Better starters gear and an experience boost was amazing of course but I would rather… As I pressed the cancel button a screen appeared asking me if I was sure, but I had already made up my mind. _Well then, that was the end of it, I am sure you are all thrilled to get started on the game. But you will have to wait with the other players to find out who is going to be the best amongst you all. I will see you all in the true Sword Art Online! _After he said that everything around me started to fall apart and it all turned black before a massage appeared: "A connection with SAO-BETA is no longer available".

**AN: So, Was it any good? Should I never get near a computer again? Please let me know.**

**I also would like to thank you for reading!**


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